Noting that there have been conflicting approaches on how and when to grant preliminary injunctions in cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a ruling clarifying the standards for issuing them.

The court’s ruling came in the case of two anti-abortion protesters suing the city of Harrisburg over the constitutionality of an ordinance keeping picketers at a 20-foot distance from health care facilities, in this case an abortion clinic.